Moving On…..

I haven’t been updating weekly like I initially was… mostly because I intended for this to start to look like an old school training blog… but I’m still not “training”… and still struggling…. And still completely unsure if I’ll ever run again…. So instead of hanging on to running with a death grip, I’m trying to find a way to just get back to moving my body in a way that makes me happy and move on…. So here’s a recap of recent activities

Usually I recap each day, but since it’s been so long between updates, I’ll just summarize what I’ve been up to in categories….

Alter G
As I wrote about last week, I started running on the Alter-G. It went well and really made me feel like “okay, I have a plan, I can just do this until my nerve theoretically heals”… and just the act of running dramatically changed my brain. I started going to the Alter G every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also started bringing my mini bands to do drills after each session. I went maybe 7 times before I had an incident where there was a leak in the shorts, and (what feels like) my nerve acted up again….. it was especially frustrating since I made it 29:48… i should have just stopped early! I was running at 40-45% body weight according to the calibration, but with the leak in the shorts, I’m not sure what it actually was. They said that if the leak is too significant the machine won’t calibrate so maybe it wasn’t the shorts but was the increase in weight, or was just from cumulative running… who knows, but I was BUMMED!

I went back on the Alter G at 20% 3 days later and completed 30 minutes… then went 2 days after that and ended up walking after 10 minutes because things just felt…. Off….I haven’t been back to the alter G since. It’s only been about a week, but I mostly haven’t been back because of schedule conflicts. Maybe the break serves me well… but I’ve decided to start thinking about the Alter-G as a way to maximize the Botox and not really thinking about the running or return to running aspect. Fuck running for a while… I don’t know…. But I contacted Alter-G about the hole in the shorts to see if they had insight on how much it would impact things… they offered to send me shorts so I don’t need to rely on the facility shorts… and the facility did get rid of the shorts but it’s still tough because sometimes they are being washed so this will allow me to just bring my own everyday. Gotta love great customer service!

Rock Climbing
I’ve tried to get back into Rock Climbing. Nearly 6 months ago when I first got Botox, I was sending v4s but starting back up was hard. My callouses were gone, and hands were soft. I signed Raea up fir two days of climbing camp and so it forced me to climb and extra 2 days that week. I went on Tuesdays and Thursdays… the opposite days from when I was using the Alter G. I decided I was going to start lifting every time I climbed as well. I just need to make climbing my new sport since so far, it’s mostly tolerable. I can tell which problems it routes are going to aggravate my calf so I just stay off those ones. I’d keep doing the Alter-G for general fitness and again, to get more out of the Botox… but fuck running. Slowly but surely my callouses returned (not without some serious flappers first), and I’ve sent a few v4s. I still am not quite where I was pre-Botox… but generally my legs hurt less so I’m actually doing overall better. It’s been pretty fun to really push myself. I’ve climbed a lot by myself, and have been even using the auto belay on repeat to try to increase my insurance… and… lose weight! I gained a lot obviously… but most of those gains were during a time where we didn’t know what was wrong at all. I was completely limited in what I was allowed to do. I was okay with the weight gain but now I’m not waiting to run again or find out what’s wrong, i just need to move again and find a new sport! My Boulder, auto belay, lift routine has been fun!

Strength Training
​I’ve been trying to strength train in some capacity 5 days a week. Bands twice a week, and a heavier lift three times a week. My band routine is monster walks, squats, donkey kicks, and a ton of glute activation things I’ve learned from years of PT and core work. My heavier lift is done form of all the primal movements: squat, hinge, lunge, carry, push, pull, rotary stability. I’ve felt my core is more connected, and as long as I focus on getting better at climbing instead of running… I don’t get depressed. Below is a sample strength workout:

Family
Well a lot has happened! I’m writing this from the waiting room of my daughters adenoid surgery…. Does that make me a bad mom? What else am I supposed to do? Gotta keep my mind off of it.

We celebrated Raeas birthday. We’ve gone to lots of fun outdoor events… but then the Delta breakout in P-Town shook the whole country making us realize 1. Delta can breakthrough the vaccine and spread through vaccinated asymptomatically, 2. The viral load is similar to unvaccinated. This had me put a pause on everything for at least a few weeks while people adjusted behavior to new information. So I cancelled a party we had planned for Maebel… poor kids birthday is today… Raeas surgery kinda pushing Maebel aside a bit longer … Masks are back on indoors, distancing and the works… at least for those of us that give-a-shit… anyway…. Data is clear that the vaccines are preventing severe Covid, hospitalizations, and death… but until my kids are vaccinated…. I’m treating it like I don’t have a vaccine yet… I’ve been masked the whole time as an example for my kids anyway, so… no big deal here.

What’s next:
I don’t have much plans for whats next…. My EMG will be here before I know it, and at the moment I can’t afford to travel to Wyoming, and don’t want to until my kids are vaccinated… so… I’m just going to keep trying to get better at climbing so that I feel like I’m progressing in some capacity… and little by little my hope is that my nerve will heal. In the meantime, I’m hoping to be as tough as my little Raea and as patient as my little Maebel who bless her heart said “It’s okay, I can have a party with my imaginary friends….” Kids of Covid amirite?